


Hold Your Breath (Breathe Out Now)

by escritoireazul



Category: Blue Crush (2002)
Genre: Character of Color, Dark Agenda Challenge, Hawaii, Hawaiian Character, Multi, Threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 01:42:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escritoireazul/pseuds/escritoireazul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anne Marie: I'm tired of holding my breath, Eden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Your Breath (Breathe Out Now)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Catalinay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catalinay/gifts).



> Companion piece to [Charge the Waves (in the Sea of Love)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/62720)

"Hey girl, thought I'd find you here." Anne Marie flops onto the couch next to Eden. The fabric is worn and scratchy against her bare thighs. She pulls up her legs and puts her feet flat on the cushion.

Eden tilts toward her, bumps their shoulders together, but doesn't look away from where Kala's mom is shaping boards in her little lean-to shop. Ever since Eden started hanging around, trying to learn how to shape, Mrs. Alexander has been careful to stand on the far side so Eden can watch exactly what she does.

"Your mom cooking dinner?" Anne Marie picks at her big toe nail. It's been wiggly ever since she smashed it on the coral. Probably she'll lose it. Gross.

When Eden shrugs, her body moves against Anne Marie's in an interesting way and for a second Anne Marie wishes they were up in Eden's bedroom, the door and windows closed against the noises she knows they'd make.

"She's working double shifts this week," Eden says. Her voice rasps in her throat all sexy and shit and – casually, so carefully casually – she strokes her little finger against Anne Marie's thigh, just for a second. Anne Marie clenches and flexes her toes.

"Mom's gone off to the Big Island with her latest boyfriend." The back of Anne Marie's neck aches and there's a throb behind her eyes which means a tension headache. "There's no food at the house." She keeps her voice low, but maybe Mrs. Alexander hears anyway.

She finishes shaping a hard rail and pulls off her mask. "You girls want to stay for dinner? I was thinking burgers and we've got enough to share. Penny's welcome, too."

Anne Marie takes a deep breath. She should say no, thank you but no, be all polite and shit, but Eden pinches her arm really hard.

"Thanks," she says instead. "I'll go get her."

"Eden, you mind getting the boys? They're down the beach some. I'll get the burgers going."

Eden jumps to her feet, then offers her hand to Anne Marie. Her fingers are rough, her grip firm, and Anne Marie's sitting one second and standing the next. She squeezes Eden's hand, her thumb on her wrist, and for a second she thinks she can feel the throb of Eden's pulse, steady and beating just for her.

~*~

Anne Marie's had way too much to drink, because making out with Drew is starting to seem like a good idea again. She realizes she's been trying to drink from an empty can and goes in search of more beer. It tasted horrible at first, but four cans in and it's – well, not good, but better. Maybe her tongue's gone numb.

She hopes not. That'll ruin her making out plans.

Eden's in the kitchen, beer in one hand, joint in the other, standing really close to Kala. Anne Marie heads straight for them and sling her arm across Eden's shoulders.

"Shit!" Eden switches the beer and the joint. "You almost got burned."

"You always burn me," Anne Marie says. It sounds a lot sexier in her head, but Eden smiles at her, just for her, and presses a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth.

"That's hot," Kala says. Eden slugs him, slopping beer over her hand and onto his t-shirt, but he keeps grinning.

"Shut up. It wasn't for you, asshole."

"Still hot."

"It is hot," Anne Marie agrees and rubs her breasts against Eden's arm. She's starting to think about a lot more than just making out with Drew. She puts her hand on Eden's stomach, under her tank top, lightly smoking the firm muscles and smooth skin.

"Gonna hump my leg next?" Eden teases, but it's obvious she likes it, cause she's not wearing a bra and her nipples just got really, really hard.

"Maybe." Anne Marie laughs. "You'd like that."

"I would!" Kala adds.

"Shut up." Anne Marie says it this time, but she grabs his arm and jerks him closer, managing to spill more beer, though she's not sure if it's from Eden's can or Kala's, then gets her hand on his shoulder and pulls him down so she can kiss him, all open mouth and sloppy tongue.

"Shit," Eden whispers, then sets aside the can of beer and the last of the joint and puts her hands on Anne Marie's hips. Kala's hands cover hers and his fingers rub little circles into her skin.

Eventually Anne Marie breaks it off so she can breathe and Kala smirks at Eden over her shoulder. "Hot, yeah?"

"Fuck, yes." She lifts her head, he bends a little to meet her, and then Anne Marie's caught between them while they kiss. She can feel Eden's breasts against her back and Kala's dick is hard and pressed into her thigh. She groans and digs her nails into the side of his neck.

They need a room with a door and soon, she's not willing to wait much longer for this.

~*~

Anne Marie's crying and there's not a damn thing Eden can do to fix it.

She strokes Anne Marie's hair and lets her sob into her lap, soaking her thin cotton shorts. Eden's not really sure what's wrong, exactly, just that Anne Marie showed up in the middle of the night, pounding on the apartment door until Eden woke up and let her inside.

After awhile, her sobs quiet, her tears slow, and Anne Marie sniffles. Eden doesn't have any tissues, so she grabs a tank top off the floor. It's already dirty, sandy and soaked through with salt water then dried in a pile. Anne Marie swipes it across her face haphazardly, then blows her nose and throws it across the room.

There are still tears on her cheeks and Eden wipes them away with careful fingertips.

"Mom's gone." Anne Marie hooks her hands around the back of her neck. "She just took off with her new guy. They're going to California. She left us." Her voice cracks. "She just left us."

Eden cups Anne Marie's face, holds her steady while she breathes and sniffs and a few more tears slip down her cheeks.

"What am I supposed to do?" Her voice is rough and worn from her grief. "How do I pay rent? How do I take care of Penny? She's not going to listen to me."

"Yes she will." Eden presses a kiss to Anne Marie's forehead. There's a faint mark to one side, the remnants of the injury that kept her out of the water. She's only just started training again. "You can do this. I'll help, and Lena will. We'll make sure Penny eats and, and doesn't drink and, I don't know, everything. We'll help."

Anne Marie puts her hands on Eden's wrists, holds them loosely. "You will?" And it's such a sad little sound Eden's heart breaks.

"Of course." She kisses Anne Marie's mouth then and Anne Marie kisses back, salt on her lips. "You know we'll help."

Anne Marie's breath slows. "I'm going to lose the house. You know of an open apartment?"

"No." Eden thinks a lot of things very quickly. "No, and you sure as hell won't lose the house. Lena and me, we'll move in. That way we can all pay rent on one place."

"Are you sure?" Eden can tell Anne Marie's not entirely convinced it will work, and to be fair, Eden's not either, but Anne Marie sounds so very hopeful she's determined that it will.

"Yes. It's a great idea, that way Penny's in a familiar place. You've got plenty of room. I hate it here anyway, the neighbors cook way too much fucking cabbage and the hallway smells like it all the fucking time."

"Yeah, I smelled that, I just thought it was, you know," Anne Marie giggles a little and even though she's insulting Eden, Eden's glad to hear it, "you not showering and shit."

"Whatever, shut up. You stink worse than me."

They lean into each other and Eden touches Anne Marie, long slow strokes of her hand down Anne Marie's back, soothing her.

"Where's Lena anyway?" Anne Marie asks.

Eden shrugs. "Found herself some hot guy, said she'd see me at work." She yawns. "Which is in just a couple hours. You think you can sleep?"

Anne Marie yawns big, but shakes her head. "I can't stay here. I shouldn't have left Penny alone anyway. God, I'm shit at this." And suddenly she's on the verge of tears again, angry, frustrated tears.

Eden shoves her out of bed and follows. "Come on, let's go home."

"What?" Anne Marie freezes and Eden takes her hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Let's go home," she says again. "Penny's waiting."

Anne Marie nods and gulps air.

Then she snorts a little laughter and raises her eyebrows. "You want to put on some pants?"

Eden looks down. Shit. She'd forgotten she was only wearing little cotton shorts, more underwear than anything to wear outside. But she's not going to let that stop her, not when Anne Marie needs her, so she shrugs.

"Pants are overrated. Let's go."

Anne Marie surges up against her and kisses her, thanks on her tongue.

~*~

"Lena! We cannot feed all those dogs!"

Lena flashes a smile that is at once mischievous and sweet. "What? They need to eat. It's just a couple dogs."

"You always do this." Anne Marie puts her hands on her hips and looks to Eden for back up. "She always does this. Some stray comes sniffing around and suddenly we've got the money to take care of them. We don't, Lena, we don't have the money."

"I know!" The smile's mostly gone, but it still hovers at the corners of her mouth. "It's just they have such sweet little faces and their big brown eyes." She pushes her lips out like she's trying to be some sort of cute little animal and Eden presses fist to her mouth to stop her laughter. "They're just too cute to resist."

"Try harder! We almost didn't make rent."

Outside, a truck backfires and Lena raises her eyebrows. "Sure, but why's it okay for your strays to eat here and not mine? At least mine don't tear up the place."

"They bring food," Anne Marie argues, but her voice loses some of its strength and she drops her hands from her hips.

"Sometimes," Eden adds and turns back to her video game. Kala will come find her soon enough.

"I just hope Drew isn't here." Anne Marie flops onto the couch in between Eden and Lena. "He's been such a little shit lately."

"Yeah, well, maybe he's not too thrilled you're fucking his friend?" Lena asks and pinches her arm.

"Ouch! You're so abusive!"

"You love it."

Anne Marie tries to frown but can't help but smile. "He should be mad at Kala then. Drew and I went on what, six dates, mostly surfing and fucking, forever ago? Why's he mad at me?"

"What else are you gonna do but surf and fuck?" Eden asks and presses her leg against Anne Marie's. "He's not. He just likes to piss you off."

"God." Anne Marie pulls at her hair. "Why does everyone pick on me?"

"Cause you're an easy mark," Lena says and smacks her thigh. "Hand me the controller, I want to play."

Anne Marie hands it over and tips her head against the back of the couch, waiting. Sure enough, Kala comes through house alone and stops to kiss her quickly before he throws himself on the ground at her feet, at Eden's feet.

"I got the winner," he says and it's like he's been there the whole time.

~*~

Eden drives Anne Marie to the airport when she leaves for her first sponsored surf competition. Penny and Lena say good-bye at the house and though their smiles are shaky, neither of them cry.

At the airport, outside security, Eden's eyes burn.

"Take care of yourself, girl," she tells Anne Marie, who slings her arm around Eden's neck and squeezes her tight.

"You too. Don't let Kala get too crazy. Make sure Penny does her homework." She stops, takes a deep breath. "Be happy."

They kiss briefly and Eden hurries back to her car. When she gets home, she'll saunter and act like the bottom hasn't just dropped out of her world. Anne Marie's sponsorship, Anne Marie's success, Anne Marie's happiness, those are all she's ever wanted.

She never stopped to think it meant losing her girl.

~*~

Kala's got new tattoos, harsh black letters between the first and second knuckles. His hands are big, his fingers blunt. Eden stares at her own hands, the raised scars where she's slipped carving boards or been cut by coral or, on her middle finger, where she pierced it on a nail at fifteen when a drunk Anne Marie came so hard she knocked Eden out of bed. There are rough spots no amount of lotion will smooth. Her nails are short and there's dirt under a couple.

"Missing our girl?" Kala flexes his hands, clenching them into fists then spreading his fingers wide. He's caught her looking.

"Shut up." Eden grabs his right wrist, holds him still. "What the hell are you doing?" she asks and brushes her thumb across each finger, each tattoo, the W and O and L and F. He runs his other hand down her arm and she tenses.

"Someone's got to protect Pipe."

He's right, but shit. "You're gonna get yourself killed."

"What?" He snorts and she wants to hit him and wipe that stupid little grin off his face. "You don't think I can take the big bad haoles?"

Of course he can, god, it's not that at all. It's just, all it takes is one guy with a knife or a broken bottle or some shit, one second where Kala's too slow, and then, fuck, that's it. No more surfing or fucking or anything-ing.

With Anne Marie gone, off chasing the waves, she's doing all the worrying. Fuck. She hates it.

"You're such a shit," she snaps but then she lifts his hand and bites the pad of his thumb, careful not to knock her teeth against the thick silver ring at the base. She's got one just like it on the first finger of her right hand. Anne Marie wears hers on her middle finger except when she's surfing. It's not marriage and babies and all that bullshit. It's just them.

He grabs her arm and squeezes. "You know I like it rough." His voice is a growl and she's heard that tone so often it makes heat pool in the pit of her stomach. She's always loved pushing his buttons, and Anne Marie's.

"Got a message for you," she says and bites again, harder.

"Oh yeah." He presses his body up against hers, brings his mouth to her ear. His stubble scrapes her cheek. "Tell me."

"Anne Marie got the toy I sent her." She licks her lips, puts her mouth briefly against his skin. He tastes salty and familiar. "She let me hear it. Wanted me to tell you all about it. How she took a shower first but didn't wash her hair, so it smelled like salt water and sweat. How she's got this big bed and she got naked in the middle of it, just her and her toy, her bare skin still damp. She slicked it up with lube thick on her fingers and when she pushed it inside, she thought about you."

Kala bites her right at the spot where her neck and shoulder join, hard, and Eden's body rolls against his. She lets go of his hand long enough to unbutton her cutoffs and shove them down her thighs, then guides his fingers right where she wants them, right between her legs, right inside her cunt, his thumb against her clit.

The muscles in his arm stand out as he works his hand against her, pushes hard and fast, and she's gasping in his ear, how Anne Marie sounded when she touched herself and how good he feels and what she's gonna do when she pins him to the bed and gets on her knees, the way he's gonna taste so good on her tongue and his breath is a rasp in her ear.

He presses his thumb down harder, bites her shoulder again, and she's coming so hard she forgets, for an instant, all the things she's missing.

~*~

Anne Marie calls during dinner, Chinese food takeout Lena picked up on her way home from work. Kala's mostly making a mess, flicking little pieces of rice at Penny. She's come straight from the ocean and her hairs wet enough they stick, which makes Lena snort with laughter.

It's Friday, early evening. Soon enough they'll head out, all to the same party, because that's how it goes with the locals here, the kids get old enough, they party together too, and whether Anne Marie wants it or not, Penny's old enough. Old enough for parties, old enough for drinking and drugs and sex. She's not quite legal yet, but when's that stopped any of them.

Anne Marie calls and her voice is so golden and warm that Eden clutches at the phone.

"I'm coming home," she says. "We're surfing Pipe, I'll be home for a couple weeks before it. I miss you."

"Girl," Eden says, just that, her voice shaky. She's missed Anne Marie so much. Something in her face must give it away, her joy, her love, all the things for which she doesn't have words, because Kala leaps up from the table and comes to her. He takes the phone, talks a minute, listens, then turns to the others.

"She's coming home next week," he says, and Penny and Lena start cheering. The phone's back in Eden's hand before she realizes Kala is handing it to her and she brings it to her ear, listens to Anne Marie breathing.

"We'll help you train." That's what she says, though it's not what she's thinking. Anne Marie laughs.

"You'd better." If anything, her voice is warmer still. "Get me into shape."

Under the noise of the others, the cheering and the food fight -- and who the hell is going to clean that up? -- Eden says, quietly, "I love you."

"I know. I never doubt that. I love you too." Anne Marie laughs suddenly. "Don't you and Kala wear each other out too much this weekend. I need you fresh and ready to go."

"Been awhile, huh?"

"The toys are great. They're just not you."

Eden laughs and squeezes the phone tight. Penny bounds over and dances from foot to foot in front of her.

"Let me talk to my sister!" she demands. Eden hands over the phone and Penny's face breaks into a wide smile. She looks like Anne Marie when she does that. Eden makes her way back to the table and grabs her beer. She's only managed one drink before Kala gets his arms around her, holding her tight.

Their girl is coming home, she thinks, and joy floods her heart.


End file.
